


Christmas Cookies and a Mistletoe

by FaithInUs



Category: Vocaloid
Genre: Crypton is a person and she's a bitch, F/F, Holiday Season Fic, I don't know why Kaito never showed up in this fic, Miku is a prissy popstar bitch in that "needs therapy" kind of way, Three chapters, Vocaloid Mansion AU, With A Twist, a robot twist, bi-daily release schedule, exes au, maybe he was locked in the freezer or smth lol
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:19:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 13,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28225257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FaithInUs/pseuds/FaithInUs
Summary: Miku and Luka didn't hate the holiday season. They hated the memories that came with it.
Relationships: Gumi/Kagamine Rin, Hatsune Miku/Megurine Luka, Kamui Gakupo/KYO
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	1. Chapter 1

Miku didn’t _hate_ the winter holidays. Sure, they were time consuming, unnecessarily complicated, and generally unpleasant, but every social gathering was like that. Wasting a day for no other reason than to celebrate always struck Miku as a bit odd, but it wasn’t too big an issue. Those were all trivial complaints compared to the much greater evil, the things that made Miku’s life a living nightmare… everything that came _before_ the holidays.

Contrary to popular belief, Christmas music was annoying. After singing the same classics every single day for 2 months, the vocals sounded worse than nails on a chalkboard. The electric bill (which Yamaha paid for solely from Miku’s profits, mind you) went to its yearly high. Miku couldn’t step one foot out of her room without running into tacky holiday decorations, whether they were on a shelf, sitting on a table, hanging from the ceiling, or plugged in and flashing on the floor. The temperature got colder, which was never fun – especially for an android whose sensors wonk out in negative degree weather. The holiday cheer got old around the thousandth “Merry Christmas!” shouted at her by some random person on the street, too. Worst of all was the _ridiculous_ workload. Miku’s company worked her day in and day out to release more holiday singles, collab with more popstars, take more holiday-themed photoshoots, and everything else that came with her job description. The schedule got so booked this year she hadn’t left the studio since early December. It was too much. Miku sometimes caught herself wishing she could lose all her popularity overnight, with not a care in the world or a person to remember her name. What a life that would be – but of course, she could never be that lucky.

On the bright side, the holidays themselves were drawing near. That meant Miku was almost free from the tortures of corporate seasonal marketing. With the last single having been recorded and sent to the mixing team, she was finally on her way back to the Vocaloid Mansion. Only a few more minutes and it would all be over; she could fulfill her dreams of lying face down on her bed and not doing jack shit until next year.

That is, if she survived this godforsaken limo ride with her boss.

“…and then I said, ‘Oh, really? Why don’t you say that to my face!’. That’s why tech guy #3 hasn’t come back. I fired him.” Miku looked up, completely disinterested, as her boss rambled.

The woman absolutely towered over Miku - as in, ‘Her high-strung ponytail was smushed against the ceiling like a pancake’ kind of tall. Throughout her very minimally coherent ranting, she was making a clear effort to avoid banging her head, which - in Miku’s opinion - was failing miserably. Miku’s boss put in a tremendous effort to wear uncannily similar yet varying outfits; in all the years Miku had known her, she had never worn the same generic blouse twice. Today she adorned a striped business suit and black undershirt that made her look more like a lopsided zebra than a business professional. Her long pants were cuffed to expose her intricate high heels (which gave her even more height than she possibly could have needed), the toes pointed so sharply Miku had no clue how her foot fit in there. Miku would have loved to ponder more on the mystery of her boss’ shoe size, but a barking, wheezing, choking sound broke Miku’s train of thought instantly. That drowning animal sound was her laugh. It scared Miku out of her artificial skin no matter how many times she heard it. This woman had a real talent for holding entire conversations with herself, and Miku had learned there was nothing to do but let her talk and pray that whatever was outside the window was interesting enough to pay attention to. Crypton Mirai, head of Crypton Future Media; the weirdest boss Miku had ever and will ever have.

“…anyways, Miku,” Crypton said, suddenly changing the topic. Miku didn’t bother moving from her slouched position against the window, expecting this to segue into another conversation about some “crazy” employee or a life story she’d heard a million times before. Miku did, however, glance up at her, knowing that all the disinterest written on her face would fly over Crypton’s head. Not showing any sign of listening would lead to a much more annoying lecture on manners. Her boss looked dissatisfied but continued on. “…the annual holiday party is tonight. While I know you _unfortunately_ have missed it these past few years, both me and the rest of our executive board agree that you should attend.”

`”What!?” Miku bolted up and stared at Crypton like she had sprouted seven heads. “No! Not happening!” The mere suggestion made her blood boil. She was NOT wasting her precious free time socializing! She didn’t care if the biggest names in the industry were there! Her time off was more than earned, the company had no right to take that from her.

Crypton took in a deep breath. “Miku Hatsune, you are the most popular and influential Vocaloid under Yamaha. Building connections with your competitors is essential to the success of our industry… so suck it up. You’re capable of making small talk for a few hours, It’s not that hard.” Crypton wasn’t intending to take no for an answer. However, Miku wasn’t one to give up easily, especially to an idiot like Crypton. She wasn’t going to waste her evening gossiping with a bunch of prissy, jolly popstars - she’d done that for her first few years as a Vocaloid and had more than served her time.

“AND I make more profit than all of those losers combined, including the rest of your singers. We wouldn’t be having this party if I hadn’t pitched in a couple hundred thousand yen,” Miku countered. “I’m allowed to skip whatever holiday frat party I want. Don’t you want your dear little money maker to rest and give it her all next week? She’s worked _so hard_ all _month_ ,” Miku whined, sweetness dripping through her voice like acid.

“You’ve become so difficult,” Crypton sighed under her breath, rubbing her temples in an effort to keep her temper under control. “Listen. I’m the CEO of this company-“

“Listen,” Miku mocked. “I’m Hatsune fucking Miku. If I want to stay in my room during break, I’m staying in my room. It says absolutely nowhere in my contract you have the right to force my attendance to something _this_ unimportant.” Finally, the limo came to a stop in the driveway of the mansion. Miku fiercely unbuckled her seatbelt and tore the door open, jumping out of the car. Her hand on the handle, she turned back one last time. “Good day. I’ll be seeing you tomorrow morning… _After_ the party.” The door was shut with a metal-screeching slam, the impact echoing through her ears as she stormed away. God, she was _so_ ready to lock herself in her room all night. She wasn’t going to do a single thing, whether Crypton liked it or not.

Some time had passed since Miku’s last encounter with Crypton. The party was going to start in thirty or so minutes, and – surprisingly – no Crypton Inc. employee had been sent to drag her there. Miku was weary of this unexpected gift, but accepted it nonetheless. Her work outfit had been thrown on the floor and promptly forgotten about, exchanged for much more comfortable sweater and sweatpants. The house was too warm for Miku’s liking, even during the dead of winter, which reduced any desire to wrap herself up in any blankets. Instead, she laid on top of her bed sheets and played some cliché anime guild game on her phone. That is, until she started watching some ads to get free in-game currency. She muted the phone and looked away out of sheer boredom, her mind wandering as she stared at the wall. The Vocaloid holiday party was such a drag. Sure, she attended the first few years, but they weren’t worth the trouble anymore. It was nothing more than a company ploy to boost collabs among the singers, anyways. Just some sick social experiment that thrived off fraternizing. Miku wouldn’t be any part of it, especially since there were people down there she didn’t want to see.

Miku decided not to linger on that thought.

The only thing this nightmare of a party had going for it were the snacks. Vocaloids were allowed to bake (or buy) treats to leave out in the kitchen, and a surprisingly large amount of them loved to participate. New household members tended to buy expensive pastries, assuming it was a contest or a chance to leave a good impression, while veterans who still contributed leaned towards homestyle recipes perfected over years of craft. Some even left their mark as a tradition, like Sweet Ann’s candy cane cake and Mew’s famous surprise flavor scones (somehow she managed to make them all black and white, so it was impossible to tell what she put in it). However, there was one food that stood out among the rest; Big Al’s blueberry cookies. Miku didn’t know how he did it, but they were crunchy on the outside and softer than marshmallows on the inside. The flavor was so sweet it would make a human’s teeth hurt, but the best thing about it was the striking fruity aftertaste that sat on your tongue for minutes on end. Miku thought they were, you know, _okay_ , compared to everything else.

“Mmmm,” Miku mumbled out loud, still thinking about those delicious cookies. Suddenly, she realized her ad had to be done by now. She shook her head, picking up her phone and collecting her reward. However, even as she tried to get back into it, all she could think about were those once a year delicacies she hadn’t had in _forever_. Miku glanced up at the time: 6:10 p.m. She still had twenty minutes before the party officially started.

Miku, from her experience as one of the oldest Vocaloids in the household, knew two things. One: Vocaloids are lazy. Even though the party is literally downstairs and most of them are off work, they’re probably doing the same thing as Miku and lazing around in their rooms. Two: Big Al is the exception to the rule “Vocaloids Are Lazy”. Big Al had a drive unlike any Miku had ever seen, always early to everything and giving it his all in every task, no matter how trivial it may be. He loved seeing smiles on other people’s faces and feeling like he did something for the people he cared about. This, of course, includes baking delicious cookies for a holiday party. Those cookies were, without a single doubt, downstairs, sitting on the counter under a layer of plastic wrap. It’s something Miku was willing to bet her life on.

So.

If Miku snuck down, grabbed a cookie or five, and snuck back up to her room, very few people would notice her. What’s the worst that could happen? She gets cookies and maybe has to suffer through a brief one-sided conversation. Nothing she hasn’t done before. A quick in-and-out. There was practically no worst case scenario!

“What do you mean I can’t go back upstairs!??!” Miku screamed, reeling at this worst case scenario. The poor security guard in front of the stairs flinched, a look of terror splattered across his face.

“P-Please calm down, Miss Hatsune. It’s not a… you’ll be fine! It’s a party, go dance! Go sing! And - uh, smiiille?” He tried and failed to divert Miku’s unbridled rage. He slowly stopped the jazz hands he’d been persistently shaking for the duration of that sentence. “Um. Listen. We’re preforming maintenance in your rooms. We can’t have anyone but our employees lurking around since we’ll be carrying heavy equipment and dismantling some potentially dangerous machinery. The rest of the household is getting cleared out as we spea-“

“You CAN’T do this!” Miku cried. “Where is my manager? She has explicit orders that I’m to stay in my room!”

“Actually, uh-“

“And who do you think you are, anyways? I make more money in 12 hours than you will your whole life! AFTER taxes!!”

“um…!-“

“I have worked day in and day out for two months. I’m probably not even charged enough to last two more hours, and a popstar’s death because I have a dated air conditioner in _December_ won’t get you a pay raise!”

“Crypton organized the plan herself if you have problems go to her H-Happy Holidays have fun at your party byeeeee!” Miku’s eye twitched as this wannabe technician had the audacity to speak over her. Miku wanted to press further, but the amount of Vocaloids making the journey downstairs was only increasing. Flower’s eyeroll in her direction was the final straw. With the loudest, most exasperated groan Miku had ever produced, she turned around and stormed in the other direction.

There was, apparently, a worst case scenario. The worst case scenario included but was not limited to: a significant amount of Vocaloids descending the staircase, giving Miku a generous amount of judgy looks; a barred off kitchen because Gakupo forgot to make his treat until last minute; a stupid, awkward, annoying body guard who trapped her downstairs; and, as icing on the cake, a snowstorm raging so badly Miku couldn’t see two inches out the window. She couldn’t go upstairs or leave the building. Miku Hatsune was trapped in the holiday party of hell.

“I swear to God Crypton is a dead woman,” Miku mumbled under her breath, actively not making eye contact with anyone. While there weren’t many Vocaloids actually downstairs, the whole place felt packed. At least one quizzical gaze landed on her in every room and hallway she passed through. She had to ignore way too many halfhearted attempts to say hello or not-so-concealed whispers – more reasons why Miku had wanted to stay upstairs and pretend she didn’t exist.

She knew that, with the literally hundreds of rooms in this hotel sized mansion, there had to be a space downstairs that was unoccupied. After about 10 minutes of awkward searching, running up and down hallways and attempting to sneak up some staircases and elevators (all in vain, of course), she finally found what she was looking for.

Yamaha’s spare bedroom was, apparently, a place no one but Miku dared to loiter in. This came to a bit of a surprise to Miku, considering it wasn’t really treated as a bedroom by anyone (including Yamaha himself). He was the real boss’ boss for the entire Vocaloid industry, someone even Crypton had to answer to. As a respectful gesture, the companies included a private room for him when constructing the mansion. He has yet to actually use it. Therefore, most of the Vocaloids treated it as a second living room. Yamaha had stepped foot in the mansion once in Miku’s entire career and didn’t seem to blink when “his” room was trashed with unwashed food bowls, dusty furniture, PlayStation disk cases scattered about, and the like. However, the whole house had been cleaned before the party, this room included, so Miku could actually walk across the hardwood without carefully watching where her feet would land. She made her way towards the bed and threw her full body weight onto the mattress, landing with a loud flop and hearing a chorus of springs squeal in complaint. She sighed, looking over her shoulder at the door one more time, and unlocked her phone. Miku couldn’t help the grin that spread across her face; take THAT Crypton! She logged onto that game she’d been playing before this whole ordeal started and let the world fade away.

Her guard was up the first 30 minutes, prepared for someone to bust through the doors and interrupt her peace. It never happened. 30 more minutes went by and Miku was feeling confident that nobody else would enter the room. By 8 o’clock, Miku was certain of her victory. She couldn’t believe her luck! Even the annoying banging of handymen lifting and dropping various heavy objects could be drowned out by turning up her phone volume. It was all going great – only 4 or so more hours to go before they allowed Vocaloids to retire to their charging stations! With her phone, the hours would pass by in no time. If the game got boring, the television was here too (Although she had heard it had been having display issues as of late… oh well, worth a shot).

Of course, this cursed night wasn’t going to let Miku win for long.

…No service? Miku stared at her phone for a moment. Then another moment. She tapped refresh, hoping the server would magically reload. She closed and opened the app, then closed and opened it again; nothing. She even tried shutting her phone off and turning it back on, but the truth was written in those little empty white bars; the internet was down.

Miku was in a state of shock. It must have been the snowstorm or something, some kind of Wi-Fi… _thing_ must have shut down. By now the party was well under way; everyone who was going to show up would be just outside that door, all 80 or so Vocaloids gathered for the biggest reunion of the year. Miku shook her head, trying to get out of her thoughts. She’ll be okay, she can try turning on the television. She reached her hand over to open the nightstand drawer. That’s always where the housemaids put remotes, it was cleaning protocol. It slid open, but to Miku’s surprise, the drawer had only specks of dust and an untouched phone directory inside. Someone must have moved it already.

The Kagamines were the ones who used this room the most, and from Miku’s experience, they usually left the remote somewhere _on_ the bed or fallen on the floor _by_ the bed. Miku had to put in serious effort to turn her head to and fro, looking for the grey tint of its plastic frame. She begrudgingly got on her hands and knees and crawled across the bed, feeling under pillows and checking the mattress for any remote-shaped lumps. Miku’s theory was proven when she hung upside-down and searched the floor, finding it lying under the bedframe by her left pigtail. She grabbed it and swung back up, sitting cross-legged at the edge. She pressed the power button and waited. The lights on the cable box begin to flash. Once. Twice. She looked up at the TV, waiting for it to show any signs of response. One second. Two seconds. Three. Five.

It should have turned on by now. Miku tried pressing a few other buttons, but the screen remained black.

“Figures,” she muttered under her breath, tossing the remote behind her and effectively banishing the knowledge of its existence to the back of her mind.

Well, fine, TV, she thought bitterly. Miku didn’t need it. Miku didn’t need anything! There would be other stuff to do in this room, _totally_ enough to last until the party was over.

In her defense, Miku really tried to follow through. She fought valiantly against the poisons of boredom – she just happened to lose within the first 10 minutes or so. It wasn’t her fault the TV broke, the cell service died, and the room had nothing in it but a feather duster on the floor of the closet. She expected someone to have noticed the internet outage and fixed it already, but it hadn’t happened. For all Miku knew, everyone was partying too much to care. Miku let out her frustration through her feet as she stomped heavily from the bed to the door, groaning exasperatedly in the process. She knew all the executives were attending the party as well, probably talking business with one another or eyeing out who was friends with who to promote future collabs. No doubt Crypton was sticking her nose somewhere, too. Miku just had to find her – or, well, any executive, really – and get them to solve the problem.

Miku swung the door open and immediately felt her mood drop. Just a step out of the room and she could see people scattered about the hallway, talking to each other or wandering from one place to the next. Miku walked right past them, ignoring whatever looks they could be giving her. Her plan was to check the biggest rooms in the downstairs, knowing that she’ll stumble across a manager or two in the midst of a large enough crowd. Specifically, her boss would be in the most heavily crowded area of the house among a group of executives, a Cryptonloid smiling falsely by her side. Crypton clung to her singers like glue during the party, loving to brag about their successes and leech off every ounce of patience they had. Miku used to get the brunt of this. One year, Crypton had pulled her aside at least once every twenty minutes – a real feat, if Miku was being honest – to brag about her new successes, newest bestselling album, newest rising star producer, etc. She used to be proud of Miku in a way Miku herself never understood. Of course, as soon as Miku lost that perfect little idol appearance, it was all gone. Thank the lord.

Miku had made it to the foyer. Immediately, she noticed how underdressed she was; sure, those 5 people in the hallway looked nice in their flashy attire, but being in a room of formally dressed, flawless individuals couldn’t have gone unnoticed by anyone, even Miku who didn’t care about those kinds of things. She pushed through the crowd and scanned every face, but not a single blood and flesh human was in sight. Just Vocaloids chatting and… drinking some sort of blue punch?

Well that’s new, Miku mused, genuinely surprised by the presence of a drink in so many Vocaloid hands. While they had fully operational bodies like those of humans, taste buds included, they had no use for food or water. There was an even split between Vocaloids who did and didn’t enjoy eating for pleasure, but displeasure in drinking was near unanimous due to the weirdness of the sensation. Someone must have taken a gamble and really succeeded, it seemed everyone in this room had a red plastic cup with it inside.

Anyways, Miku had to move on. Her next stop was the living room - the one with the official pine tree, Menorah, and Kinara. There was bound to be _someone_ in there she could talk to. Miku was baffled by the fact not a single manager seemed to be in the building at this point. Giving herself the benefit of the doubt, she hadn’t seen a single Cryptonloid, either, and Crypton was guaranteed to be by one of their sides. She would find Crypton, ream her a new one, get her to fix the Wi-Fi, and be done with this mess of a party. It was that easy. Fueled by her desire to just get out of here and back into her quiet, secluded hideaway, she started walking at a very brisk pace, ready to blow her gasket on Crypton for… well, at this point, Miku couldn’t put any of it into words. Everything. She was fast approaching the doorway, to the point she could hear the chatter inside, and just had to turn a sharp left in a few step’s time to burst in and ruin Crypton’s night like Crypton did her’s.

However, the evening took a drastic shift as she took that turn, completely blind to the fact another person had been exiting the room at an equally – if not, faster - walking pace.

Miku was yanked of out her thoughts and snapped to the present with the force of a rubber band to the face. The actual collision was split second; one moment she was walking, and the next her head was reeling. All the spotty, blinding colors of the rainbow danced across her vision – troubleshooters warning her of impact blaring like firetruck sirens as they glitched out. Pain throbbed in Miku’s head so loud she couldn’t think. The only thing she could register was a pained groan from the other person, the spitting, hissing sound of the gears grinding behind her ears, and the nauseating spinning of the world as it seemed to collapse around her.

Then suddenly Miku was fine.

Her head still pounded, but the spell cast on her lifted. Miku was staring down at her socks, fingers buried in her hair and tugging at her ponytails uncomfortably. She let herself rest there while she gathered her bearings, then slowly lifted herself back up. Whoever had ran into her would-

The world froze.

That person… had pink hair.

Pink hair, and a fancy gold headband, and the sleek, form fitting black dress that Miku knew, that Miku recognized, that made Miku’s insides melt and twist and coil into a feeling Miku swore was the closest she would ever feel to true human sickness.

When their eyes met, time seemed to grind to a halt. Miku immediately noticed she was wearing makeup; an unusual sight for her, especially the winged eyeliner that accentuated her gorgeous cerulean irises. Miku picked up the sparks of recognition that flicked across those orbs, and the slightest shift in her sockets that revealed she was taking in Miku just as Miku was taking in her. That’s when she realized that the woman was more than just perplexed; she was frightened right now. There were no raised eyebrows, no widened eyes, and to anyone else, it probably would have been lost – but Miku knew. Miku could see the tiniest quirk to her lips, the most fractional tensing of her shoulders. Why? Why was she scared? Miku’s mind was blank, unable to do anything but meet her gaze. That is, until she saw the slightest movement in those sky blue eyes; nothing of magnitude, but a shift of focus from Miku to Miku’s forehead back to Miku. That was enough for Miku to know there was a reason – a reason other than _this_ to be on edge. Miku tilted her head up, eyes passing the lights of the Christmas tree, the stockings in the corner, the menorah on the table on their way up. Then she saw it.

She should have prepared for something like this. The way her day was going, of course this would happen. Why did she ever put it past the decorating committee to put a _fucking mistletoe_ over the doorway?

Miku looked back down, back at her, and felt time slowly rid its chains and resume moving once again. The echoes of chatter from other Vocaloids. The overly warm room. The flashing Christmas tree lights. Of course, Miku paid those things no mind. She was too busy staring her greatest regret right in the eye.

Megurine Luka. She was under a fucking mistletoe with her ex-girlfriend, Megurine Luka.

The chatter continued ringing in their ears, but neither of them made a move. Luka’s gaze was blank now, as if she knew one small slip from her would scare Miku off. Miku felt the coil in her stomach drop, weighed by the cooling anger it had seethed with moments before. She looked into Luka’s eyes, unable to muster any emotions other than the ones she didn’t want Luka to see.

Miku opened her mouth, but words didn’t come out. They were supposed to - she wanted to, she could have, but… she bit them back. The pain in her heart was too much, the thought too much, this… this was too much.

Miku wanted to go back to her room.

She couldn’t do this. Not Luka. Not now.

“No.” Miku hardly recognized the voice that came out of her mouth. It was cracked beyond recognition, a pathetic plea for something Miku didn’t understand. A plea for Luka to do something neither of them wanted. An impossible demand, of course, since Luka could do just about anything right now and it’s what Miku would have wanted. She could have punched her so hard her mainframe exploded or kiss her with the passion of a thousand suns until the party’s over. Tell her she loves her. Tell her she hates her. Miku wanted it all – prayed for it all, right in that moment, all at once. She also prayed for nothing. She also wanted Luka to leave and never cross paths with her again.

No matter what Luka did, Miku would still hate it. She would hate it as much as she hates herself.

Luka gave her everything she didn’t want, just as Miku had asked for. Her one wish, granted. Luka looked away, squeezed past her shoulder, and briskly walked away. Even through the sounds of the party, the click of her heels resonated through Miku like a shockwave all the way until she was too far to be heard.

Only then, with Luka gone, did Miku realize it was dead silent within the living room. Every single pair of fifteen or so eyes was trained directly on her, unblinking, unbreathing. Talk about awkward.

“The internet’s out,” She stated, giving herself a moment to look each and every Vocaloid in the eye. Of course, there were no managers in sight – perfect. “Someone find Crypton and make her fix it.” Miku went to turn around, but stopped herself mid motion. She stared at everyone again, waiting for a response. There was none. There was fidgeting, nervous glances exchanged, but not a single person acknowledged her statement.

Typical.

Miku turned around and walked out right the way she came. She needed to go back into Yamaha’s stupid master bedroom and pretend she wasn’t at this dumb party.


	2. Chapter 2

Luka didn’t hate the winter holidays. Hating trivial and unimportant things was, after all, a waste of time. However, she had grown to dislike winter holiday _parties_ , much like the one she was at right now.

“Let’s hit the snack table first, we _have_ to taste test everything before they’re all gone!” Lily shouted loud enough so the Vocaloids in the next room could hear, dragging Luka by their linked arms across the dining hall towards the kitchen. They had arrived at 6:40 o’ clock on the dot – later than Luka liked, but Lily had insisted they put on makeup before going downstairs. Luka was hesitant - they were androids and their models had no imperfections to hide - but Lily’s insistence eventually won out. Of course, one thing led to another and she ended up giving Luka a complete makeover. Her everything – outfit, earrings, head accessories, and even her shoes – had been swapped so she could wear “the sexiest outfit this party will EVER see”, in Lily’s words. She disliked the shoes in particular, borrowed from Lily’s closet and just a little too small for her feet. They were too flashy for her tastes, as well. She didn’t care too much about fashion, though, so she didn’t linger on the thought for long.

They must have been some of the last ones there. The halls were packed with other Vocaloids – some in groups, some alone, others sneaking in and out of the kitchen door or searching for an old friend. Luka knew this was the biggest party of the year, but the attendance turnout was mindboggling. it seemed like every resident and their staff were present. Luka knew some credit was due to the maintenance check upstairs, but the fact that seemingly no one was working tonight was unusual.

“Luka.” Lily called, bringing Luka’s attention back to her. “Ha, head in the clouds again? What’cha thinkin’?” Lily grinned and nudged Luka with her elbow as they walked.

“There are a lot of Vocaloids attending this year,” Luka voiced her thoughts. She noticed the brush of her shoulder against yet another Vocaloid as they entered the kitchen.

Lily hummed and nodded in agreement. “You’re speakin’ straight truth there, I’ve never seen so many of us in one room. You getting anything up here?” Lily gestured to the snack table, completely filled with sweets and snacks of all shapes, sizes, and sorts. Luka shook her head, withdrawing her arm from Lily’s. “No, I’m fine,” she replied, and as soon as the words were out of her mouth, Lily rushed to the table, grabbing two plates and getting in line. She was undoubtedly going to treat this like an all you can eat buffet. The snacks were her favorite part of this party, as she had told Luka numerous times. Luka went to step out of the room when she heard a voice calling out her name. She turned around and came face to face with Gakupo, adorned in a fancy red and green Kimono with a giant stain in the middle.

“Luka! It’s been so long since our paths have last crossed,” He bowed. “How have the winds of fate fared on your journey? Has the universe guided you to my dangos? You should really try my dangos, they are the labors of my heart and sou-“

“Please Gakupo, you saw her last Saturday,” another voice joined in the conversation. It was Meiko, who threw a hand over his shoulder while grinning widely. “Ignore him, he’s just feeling extra antsy because he procrastinated making something for the snack table. Almost held up the party and everything,” she playfully glared at him for a moment and then looked back at Luka. “but seriously, how have you been? You were gone all week! Was Crypton working you to the bone again? Seriously gotta put that woman in her place, taking the holidays away from you kids like that…”

“I’m doing well,” Luka replied, tone even.

“Me as well! As a samurai, I understand the dedication and love you have for work – the joy of helping others, of fulfilling a task, of tending to the embers of inspiration!” Gakupo exclaimed. Luka didn’t understand what that meant but knew better than to ask a follow-up question about it. She chose instead to nod at him, and he immediately smiled.

“You’re wise beyond your years, Megurine. You get me,” He sniffed, tears forming in his eyes. Meiko rolled her eyes, but cracked a smile nonetheless.

“Well good for her, she’s the only one,” Meiko pushed him to the side. “Go get us some dangos. I’m sure Luka is dying to taste them, with how… dango they are.”

“Yes! I-I mean, um, your wish is my command, my ladies!” Gakupo then started to Naruto run to the table, earning a hearty laugh out of Meiko.

“A very interesting guy, to say the least,” she sighed, swirling around some blue drink she had in a red plastic cup. It piqued Luka’s interest; usually Meiko would only drink fine wines, and last Luka checked, wine wasn’t blue.

“What drink is that?” Luka asked, glancing at the glass. Meiko looked confused for a moment, following Luka’s gaze to see what she was looking at.

“Oh! This? This is the punch the Meika twins brought in. It’s really good – there’s just this smooth yet exotic taste to it that really gives it this amazing flavor, you should try some of that, too. Frankly, it might help wash down the dangos,” Meiko joked, taking a quick swing of her blue punch. She swallowed it and continued. “But, anyways, I’m so glad you could make the party. I was beginning to think Crypton locked you in the recording booth.”

“This winter season has been busy,” Luka commented, crossing her arms. “You, Kaito, and the Kagamines have a lot on your plate too, it wasn’t just me.”

“We got to come back to the mansion every night, though. Gosh, I’m getting so old, it feels like just yesterday you were nervous for your very first commission, and here you are being one of the most successful stars in the building!” Meiko giggled, a nostalgic look in her eyes as she thought about the past. Luka didn’t like it – the past, that is. She didn’t want to think about it, it made her feel weird, so she didn’t. That was that.

“At least you’re not as booked as Miku, though! She has it the toughest of all of us. If you weren’t here the week, she probably didn’t leave the building for a month – I mean, nobody really can confirm that, but…” Meiko trailed off, then suddenly the weight of her mistake hit her. Luka froze for a moment, then shook her head, acting natural. It’s not like Meiko was going to see through her.

“No, stop. You’re fine. She doesn’t mean anything to me.” Luka wanted to look away but knew that it would betray everything she just said. She never broke eye contact, keeping her expression as even as possible. As strong as possible. That’s who Luka was. Strong. Never again would she be weak, not like she used to be. It wasn’t what an android- a robot- an idol will feel. Luka won’t do it.

“Oh. Oh, okay,” Meiko stuttered. She looked like she wanted to say more, but luckily for Luka, Lily and Gakupo were back, plates stacked with snacks to their heads. Lily had at least four of every possible snack there could have been offered, so much so it caught even Luka off guard.

“Dangos for everyone!” Gakupo shouted, running over and shoving a dango stick in Luka’s hand. He then gave Meiko a dango, and Lily a dango on top of the dango she already got herself, and even himself a dango.

“Hell yeah!” Lily cried, looking down upon her hoard of snacks with what could only be described as pure joy.

“How many dangos did you make?” Meiko asked, a hint of tease in her voice as she looked at her purple and white dyed dango. It seems he made them in different colors; absolutely no rhyme or reason to them, of course, with all the clashing colors of the rainbow seeming to be present in their four dangos alone.

“A lot,” Lily answered for him, shoving some random treat in her mouth as she spoke. Luka grimaced as she started speaking, not even waiting to finish chewing her food. “Ih tuk uhp hawlf da thable.”

Meiko laughed heartily, apparently enjoying Lily’s antics. “Well, let’s find some place to sit so you don’t have to break your back carrying that plate. Gakupo and I had been chatting with some others in the living room, do you guys want to join us?”

“Sure, we’d love to! Right Luka?” Lily definitely knew Luka wasn’t going to refuse, but still caught her gaze and sent the most pleading puppy dog eyes she could in her direction.

“Yes, we’ll join you,” Luka nodded, causing Lily to break out into a huge grin.

“Awesome, Lukes! Meiko, lead the way! By the way, Gakupo mentioned that Teto’s here? How the hell did she get past security this year?”

“I’ll leave that story for her to tell. I only heard a bit of it myself, but it was really extravagant…”

As Lily and Meiko lead the group at the front, Gakupo snuck beside Luka and tried to strike up some casual conversation. “So, tried your dango?”

“No,” Luka flatly replied. She looked at Gakupo to see a look of dejection, his frowny face making Luka feel like she just kicked a kitten. “I will when we get to the living room.” His demeanor immediately brightened, smile radiating across the room. Gakupo tried to walk next to her, but the crowds and groups of people in their way made him end up moving like a madman, dodging left, right, moving ahead of her, single filing behind, switching sides. It was quite chaotic, but Luka appreciated the gesture.

“How has work been faring?” Luka asked once they made it past the crowded area.

“Things are going great! We’ve had a break off work the past few days, which has given me more time to practice my katana skills. I’m, uh, pretty good, if I do say so myself,” Gakupo bragged, puffing out his chest as he gloated about his sword practice.

“Stop!” Lily suddenly shouted, suddenly freezing and not taking a step further. Luka slowly came to a standstill, curious as to what caused her to stop.

“wha- AUGH!” Gakupo didn’t react in time, running straight into Meiko and sending them both falling onto their butts. Meiko’s (thankfully empty) cup went soaring across the air and landing somewhere in the living room beyond. Her snack, however, was not as lucky, and her dangos were squished when Gakupo landed on them.

“Nooooooo! My dango!” Gakupo whined, immediately crawling off

“Actually, that was _my_ dango! And they were good!!!” Meiko cried, weeping over the loss of her apparently not inedible snack. Luka was surprised; Gakupo had the infamous record of making his treats bad, even for Vocaloid standards. Vocaloids were programmed to be able to eat bark off the trees and not dislike it. Really, Luka found it to be quite impressive.

“Why did we stop?” Luka asked. Lily looked at her, then gazed up at the ceiling. She probably would have pointed if her arms weren’t so full of snack plates.

“The mistletoe… is right above us,” she whispered. Luka looked up and saw there was, in fact, a mistletoe.

“Huh. They haven’t hung it here in a while,” Luka mused, and then realized… Meiko and Gakupo were under it!

“You gotta kiss!!!!” Someone shouted from inside the living room. Luka looked over to see that everyone, no matter where they had been standing or who they had been talking to, were looking over at them, smiles on their faces. There were a lot of them, surprisingly; around 20 or so, all grouped together. Everyone was scattered; some sprawled across a chair, others sitting on the floor. The tv was on playing some holiday film, but nobody seemed to actually have interest in watching it.

“Well, you don’t have to,” a squeaky voice interjected. Rana was sitting on the floor playing dreidel with Len and Kyo. “It’s your choice. Happy holidays by the way, Luka and Lily.”

“Haha, sure! I don’t mind,” Meiko said, slowly standing up. “It is a Vocaloid tradition, after all.”

“It would be an honor, my lady,” Gakupo declared dramatically, getting on one knee. He gently grabbed her hand and placed a kiss upon it.

“Wow, what a romantic!” Meiko teased, patting his head and pretending to be flattered. “My samurai in shining armor~!”

“That makes four! Yuki, update the tally!” Teto jumped up from her seat on the couch excitedly. Yuki, who had been sitting by the fireplace, saluted her before pulling out an Etch a Sketch and fervently twisting the knobs.

“Four recorded miss Teto!” Yuki cried, turning the Etch a sketch around and displaying her four wobbly tally marks on the screen, all connected with obvious and randomly splayed lines.

Teto smiled, seemingly proud of Yuki’s work. “A fine job Sargent Yuki, keep up the good work. At ease!” Yuki grinned and pushed her Etch a Sketch aside, going back to whatever she had been doing before.

“It was Teto’s idea to see how many people we could catch under the mistletoe this year,” Meiko explained to Lily and Luka. “They seem to be having a lot of fun with it, so as long as the managers don’t catch it, we should be fine.”

“That’s so fun!” Lily exclaimed. “You guys are brilliant, truly.”

“Try not to talk too much about it outside of this room, ok?” Meiko winked and, without further ado, walked into the room. Luka and Lily followed her, the group looking for a place to sit. Luka noticed all the seats were taken, so they would have to sit on the floor; Lily seemed to be leaning towards the dreidel group, plopping her butt (and her mountain of food) on the floor next to Rana. Gakupo, of course, followed right in their footsteps, smiling at Kyo and sitting next to him.

“Hey Gakupo! Wanna join us? I gotta say though, you’re probably not going to win. Rana’s a beast,” Kyo grinned, leaning on Gakupo’s shoulder. Gakupo wrapped his arms around Kyo’s waist and nodded.

“Of course, my full bloom lotus blossom,” Gakupo said, putting on his “manly face”. Kyo chuckled, pecking him on the lips.

“Hey!” Teto cried. “If you’re gonna do PDA, at LEAST have it under the mistletoe! We need that count!” 

“Oh my gosh, look at all those snacks!” Len interjected, leaning over, mouth agape at Lily’s mountain of treats.

“Is that some kind of drink? I’ve never had a drink before!” Rana wasn’t in any better condition than Len, practically drooling over the holy grail of sweets.

“Feel free to take some, I can always get more,” Lily laughed, picking up a dango from the top of her pile and taking a bite. “Wow, Meiko was right, these aren’t horrendous!”

“Thank you, thank you,” Gakupo looked very pleased with himself.

Luka took to leaning against the wall in the general vicinity of Lily. She wasn’t much for games or chattering, but she admittedly enjoyed being able to watch everyone and listen to conversations every now and again. For a while she just sat there and looked around, watching Rana win again and again at dreidel, Yuki’s tallies going up every time an unsuspecting Vocaloid pair came or exited the room. Len ended up loving the punch and got refills often, in which Luka would substitute in. She didn’t know the rules as well as Len did, but Kyo would help her out if she ever needed it.

During one of her moments of wall-leaning, she had time to let her mind wander. She was surprised that Crypton hadn’t butted her way into the room yet. It was a bit strange of her, enough for Luka to notice It, but she paid no mind; the woman did have a habit of sticking with just one of them for a period of time. Maybe she was showing around Kaito or clinging to Rin. Or…or maybe she was with…Miku? Miku hadn’t shown up to this party in a long time though, so Luka ruled it out. Just the thought of Miku made Luka feel weird again, but she forced herself to stay on the topic. Luka wasn’t weak, Hatsune didn’t mean anything to her. Not anymore.

“Hey, my stocking already has something in it!” Luka felt a wave of relaxation rush over her as she got out of her own head, looking over to see Yuki jumping up and down, pointing to the wrapped gift sticking out of the top of hers.

Oh, the stocking wall. Luka had forgotten it was even there.

The holiday party was full of traditions, but one of the most well-loved was the stocking wall. Since there wasn’t a chimney in the Vocaloid mansion, and there were a lot of residents, someone had the really good idea of making a wall decorated with all of their stockings. That way, all the stockings were in one place, and it turned into a cute festivity many of the Vocaloids liked. It had every Vocaloid’s stocking – it even had some executives like First Place and Crypton, and apparently also Teto (which may have been placed there when the party started by the girl herself). Scanning the names on the stockings, Luka realized her last statement was incorrect. There was a hole in the wall – a blank spot in the top left, right above Luka’s own stocking. She stared at it, irrationally feeling like it was staring back at her.

Almost every Vocaloid had a stocking. There was one that had started the sad tradition of taking hers down every year by hand, to the point others have given up protesting. What was anyone going to do about it?

The blank hole wasn’t staring back at her. Luka knew that much, but she couldn’t look away. It haunted her.

Miku really had a way of getting into Luka’s head, whether Luka liked it or not. Without noticing it, the world had fading around her. It was just Luka now, drowning alone in her own memories. No, wait… scratch that. It was her, and…

_“…is the stocking wall! What do you think?” Luka held Miku’s hand as they walked into the living room. Luka did a double take, mouth agape as she stared in complete shock at the sight before her. She’d heard it was impressive, but wow, that was the most stockings Luka had ever seen in one place! Well, probably her first time seeing stocking in general, but the point stands._

_“Miku, this is c-crazy!” Luka looked over in wonder at her girlfriend. “You set this all up!?”_

_Miku blushed, turning to face Luka with a smile on her face. “Oh no, I couldn’t possibly take all the credit for that. Mariam did most of it, I just held the ladder.” It looked like there were hundreds of them up there, covering the wall from top to bottom in personally embroidered stockings. It must have cost so much money and hard work to get their hands on so many! Maybe. It’s not like Luka knew anything about the stockings market or anything. She had a lot to learn about this holiday, didn’t she? Maybe they were really cheap? Who knows! Oh, Miku was waiting for her to say something. She had let herself get lost in her thoughts again, how embarrassing._

_“Oh my goodness, Miku. I can’t believe you even were able to come up with this idea in the first place.” Luka laughed nervously, pushing up her glasses. She felt severely underdressed for this Christmas party; Miku said that everything was casual so Luka had worn her classic performance outfit, but she had totally lied! Everyone was dressed up, wearing outfits more expensive than Luka’s whole career. Thankfully, Miku was wearing her performance outfit too, the one with the crazy hair ties that accentuated her teal hair. Miku looked stunning, though – she always did. Luka didn’t feel like she was anywhere near her level. “u-um, anyways… forgive me for asking, but, um, what are they for?”_

_“They’re for putting presents in,” Miku explained. “We leave a lot under the tree, but for little things that can’t be wrapped, it’s better to put in a stocking so they’re still a surprise.”_

_“I’m sorry for making you exp-“_

_“Nope! Luka, I don’t want to hear a word. It’s your first holiday party! You probably hadn’t even heard of Christmas until this season, there’s no reason you should have known the traditions.” Miku looked at Luka sympathetically, squeezing her hand a bit in reassurance. Luka’s heart jumped, a blush spreading across her cheeks just remembering that they’re holding hands._

_“T-Thank you…” Luka looked at her feet, only to realize her glasses were slipping. She looked back up and pushed them up her face, feeling even more embarrassed for an entirely different reason. Her body’s final product had camera malfunctions where her left iris wouldn’t move with the right, staying trained ahead of her at all times. Worst of all, it was a programming issue and not a machine malfunction, so they had no way of correcting it without manually editing Luka’s code – which was impossible after activation. Crypton eventually solved the issue, but it wasn’t easy, and long story short Luka had to wear these glasses at least 12 hours a day to keep the correction. It worked kind of like how a human’s retainer would after getting braces – maintained perfect shape, if used properly. Luka didn’t quite like them, if she were honest with herself, but there was nothing she could do about it. Miku said she found them endearing, so Luka tried to think about that when she looked at herself in the mirror. Hopefully they would be off her soon enough; her first “birthday” was only a month or so away, which should be all the time those glasses need if things worked the way they were supposed to._

_Luka snapped back into reality to see that Miku was looking at her. She had that look in her eyes; like she was really happy, and that Luka was causing it. It made Luka’s (artificial) heart skip a beat. Sometimes she looked at her that way when they… Luka felt her eyes glide down from Miku’s sea blue eyes to her lips, then looked right back up, a blush alight on her face._

_“I still can’t believe we’re dating. It feels like a dream,” Miku giggled, a slight tint to her cheeks as well. Luka tried to smile back, feeling the stiffness and awkwardness of the movement, but squeezed her hand back to try and show that she felt the same. Miku looked like her eyes were watering for a moment, but then looked away. “let’s go check out the rest of the party! I’ll teach you about all the holiday stuff as we go along.” Luka quickly followed Miku’s cue and they walked out of the room together. Luka was blown away by how different the mansion looked when decorated; she had no clue how everyone managed to put it all together. Miku showed her things like Menorahs, explained why there were so many holiday light bulbs around, and anything else that came up. They got stopped quite often by Vocaloids saying hi or striking up casual conversation. The only time their hands were separated was when Rin ran up behind Miku and jumped on her back, getting a little ride around the house for about a minute or so before Miku almost collapsed from exhaustion. As soon as she wasn’t using it to support Rin staying on her back, Miku linked hands with her again, and they continued their tour._

_Then they made it to the kitchen. Specifically, the snack table, which Miku had been excited for. “The best for last,” Miku cried, then spread her free hand out dramatically as they entered the door. “The snack table!”_

_In front of them was… an incredibly sad looking snack table. Luka didn’t know much about what they were supposed to look like, but there were only a few treats actually there._

_Miku chuckled nervously. “um, it’s kind of a new thing Sweet Ann started two years back, but you’ll love it, I swear! Luka, you’ve got to try this cookie!” Miku walked them to the table and grabbed two little blue cookies, handing one to Luka. “Even if you don’t like eating, it tastes so good, you’ll love it!”_

_“O-Okay…” Luka looked down at it nervously; she really wasn’t one for eating, but if Miku was recommending it so much…_

_“I mean, not to spoil it for you, but Big Al’s cookies are the best thing I have ever eaten in my life. You can sink your teeth into it, but it’s crunchy on the outside, and inside it’s got this softness to it that mixes so well with the overall ingredients he used…” Miku seemed to not be able to resist and took a bite of it in the middle of her description, sighing in delight as she ate it. It’s apparently that good. Luka, curious to see if this cookie really lived up to its name, brought it to her mouth and took a hesitant bite, ready to spit it out if necessary. She let it sit there for a few moments, then chewed. Slowly._

_Huh._

_Wow!_

_Luka was surprised to find Miku’s description was spot on. She smiled, gathering up all her courage, swallowing it, and taking another bite. She probably wouldn’t have another one, but it was a pleasant surprise to find out she liked it._

_“It was pretty good,” Luka said once the cookie was gone. Miku had downed around 4 cookies in the time it took her to eat one, but Luka didn’t blame her. She thought it was kind of cute that Miku liked these so much._

_“I know right!?!??! Best things ever!” Miku said in between her near inhalation of another one. “Big Al really knows how to cook.” Luka smiles and they make their way to the living room once again - apparently they’re meeting Rin there._

_I’m lucky. I… I love Miku, Luka caught herself thinking as they walked back. Luka smiled to herself at the thought; she really loved Miku. She was so nice and helped her so much; she was really like her other half. She completed Luka. She hoped she would never lose her._

_Their hands unlinked, but Luka still felt so close to Miku. She looked over at her to see Miku staring right back at her, a small smile on her face._

_“What’re you thinking?” She asked cutely. “Do you like the party?” Oh, Miku’s voice was so pretty, Luka could fawn over it all day!_

_“I like you.” She replied mindlessly, then she realized what she had said. “Oh. Oh! Um, uhh, I mean I like it too!! I like the party too!! Aaaughh,” She groaned in embarrassment. Miku laughed, melodic like everything else she seems to do._

_“Hahaha! I like you too Luka.”_

_They got to the living room in the blink of an eye. Luka was convinced the rest of the night would have continued like that if Rin didn’t scream in their ears the second they stepped foot into the living room._

_“Stop!!!” Luka did a doubletake, yelping in fear and immediately clinging to Miku’s arm._

_“What!? What!?” Luka cried, looking around for whatever reason that could have warranted such a loud reaction from her. Rin was practically in tears for whatever reason, laughing up a storm at her._

_“Rin! You scared her,” Miku huffed, confusion and a bit of anger in her eyes. Luka realized what she was doing and immediately separated from her. Their relationship wasn’t a secret or anything – it was the talk of the mansion, actually, according to Len – but Luka still didn’t want to burden Miku with her unwarranted and embarrassing actions._

_“That was mean,” Gumi stated from beside Rin, straight faced and deadpan as always._

_“Um, sorry Luka,” Rin apologized, and Luka did feel it was genuine. Miku apparently did too and seemed to go back to her mellow self. “I had good reasons for it, though! Look above you!”_

_Luka looked up to see… a plant? She looked at Miku quizzically, hoping she could explain this to her, only to see Miku rolling her eyes, looking directly at Rin and Gumi on the couch._

_“Ugh, Rin, when did you have time for this?” She joked. “I don’t know how you even got a mistletoe up there.”_

_“Yeah, Teto flew it up there an hour or so ago. Hope she can find a way to sneak back in this year, Internet Co. seemed really adamant on sending her home when he caught her though.” Rin shrugged. Luka had yet to meet Teto, but based on the rumors that spread around the house, that girl was…something else. That wasn’t the most pressing thing on her mind at the moment though._

_“Missile… toe?” Luka echoed, even more confused than she was by a plant taped to the ceiling. Miku looked over at Luka, then shyly glanced back at Rin._

_“It’s, well, this tradition… no one has to, but if you’re under the mistletoe with someone else, it’s tradition to, um…”_

_“Wait, Luka doesn’t know?” Rin asked, scratching her head. “I feel like we made a real big deal about it last year…”_

_“Luka hasn’t_ been here _a year,” Gumi clarified, shaking her head and looking like she was trying to not associate with her in this moment._

_“Ooooooohhhh!” Rin cried, the lightbulb going off in her head._

_“You can really be airheaded sometimes, you know that?” Gumi said. Usually that would be interpreted as a jab or a remark, but it looked like Gumi was just pulling her leg. Sometimes it was hard to tell with her flat tone of voice, but that girl was really kind at heart. She patted Rin’s head gently to clarify her nonharmful intent._

_“Well, I will explain it to her,” Rin nodded confidently. “You kiss the person you’re under it with! So like, if I and Gumi were under it, we’d have to kiss.”_

_“O-On the lips? Every time?” Luka asked, a blush creeping up her cheeks at the thought of kissing Miku._

_“Oh no! It can be anywhere, totally nonromantic. Unless you want it to be~” Rin sang, pretending to swoon dramatically. She suddenly sat straight up, her face exploding into red as she realized something. “I-I mean, I would never want to do something romantic with Gumi! That was just a… an example! I would kiss her not on the mouth! Maybe like on the cheek or something I don’t know I haven’t thought about it that much hhhaaahahhahaha…”_

_For being as smart as she was, Gumi didn’t seem to notice anything suspicious about that statement. “Yes, Rin would kiss me on the cheek. You can do the same with Miku if that’s what you two choose to do.”_

_Luka looked back at Miku for her opinion on what to do, hoping she had a definitive answer. If she replied with something like “it’s up to you”, Luka wouldn’t know if she had the bravery to say her true feelings._

_It turns out they never really had to exchange words. Miku had a look of clarity in her eyes as she nodded slowly. Luka let out a sigh of relief. Her posture was stiff – too stiff, actually, since her boots gave her a few inches on Miku. She breathed in and out, relaxing her body and leaning a little closer to her girlfriend. Miku fluttered her eyes shut and tilted her head up, puckering her lips. Oh. They were really doing this. Luka felt her hands shaking as she reached down to lace their fingers together. She squeezed her eyes shut, bringing her face closer and closer to the love of her life, and gently pressed her lips against Miku’s. It lasted just a few seconds, but Luka immediately felt herself calm. A peaceful feeling washed over her body, as if even her mainframe knew this was where she wanted to be. She felt safe. She felt… loved. Before she got carried away, Luka pulled back, slowly opening her eyes. Miku looked at her for a moment with that look again – that look of adoration, of worth, of love – before breaking out into a huge grin. Luka cracked a smile back and laughed. Genuinely laughed._

_I hope Miku and I stay like this forever, she found herself thinking. Luka knew Miku loved her. Luka loved her back. She knew that no matter how many years passed, they would never want it any other way._

_What an idiot Luka used to be._

…Luka snapped herself out of it. She looked around again, unsure of how long she’d been spacing out. _Too long_ , Luka thought, _yet not nearly long enough_.

“Hey Luka, would you mind filling in for me again? I need to get another drink,” Len called. Convenient timing.

“Leave some punch for the rest of us, kid! You’re on your way to drinkin’ the whole canister,” Lily replied, slapping him on the back before he stood.

“I-I won’t! I would never!” Len’s response wasn’t very convincing. Lily patted the empty spot and beckoned Luka over once he was gone. She cheered as Luka walked over and settled down.

“I’ll give you $100 if you put all of Len’s chips into the pot,” Lily attempted to swindle Luka, waving the dreidel in front of her teasingly – it was technically her turn, but Lily wanted her to fake a “lose all” and put all of Len’s winnings into the pot so others could get them. The pot itself had a significant amount of everyone’s chips; it seemed like Gakupo and Kyo were fully out, Lily had only a few coins to her name, and the only one financially well off was Rana. Kyo laughed at Lily’s bribe, then realization seemed to cross his face.

“Oh my god, you’re serious. No! Don’t do it Luka! She’ll cheat and win the round!”

“Do it on my turn and I’ll make it $200,” Rana whispered, a dark look on her face that seemed to scare Kyo out of his skin.

“Sabotage! I’ll make it $300!” Gakupo joined in, probably just for the fun of it.

Luka sighed, shaking her head at their antics.

“What did you say? You would?” Rana grinned, reaching for Len’s (admittedly small) coin pile as if it was already hers.

“… no.” Luka snatched the dreidel and, in the name of Len, spun it with all the vigor she could muster. Rana looked like her soul had been ripped out of her body.

“Are you mad!? With a move like that… heh. I was a fool to underestimate Luka,” Rana villain monologued to herself.

Luka landed on something – she didn’t remember this particular symbol, but based on the rest of their faces it was a good one.

Rana froze, horror stricken across her face. “You… what!? The whole pot!?!? Nooooooooo!!!!”

“Ooooyyyy!” A voice called from outside the living room, catching Luka’s attention. She turned her head around to see Rin and Gumi walking into the living room side by side, Rin holding one of those blue drinks. As expected, Gumi was holding a small snack tray – not nearly as intimidating as Lily’s Mt. Fuji sized pile, but it had a good amount of orange, carrot shaped items. Rin was wearing what could have been the most casual outfit Luka had seen at this party, being a relatively simple white and orange dress shirt over a black pantsuit. Gumi wore a pastel green china dress with a leg slit much like Luka’s performance outfit – it seemed like it should have been a stretch to pull off with her particular hairstyle, but Gumi looked quite nice in it. As soon they began to cross the bridge between the living room and the hallway, Teto jumped up and screamed as loud as she could, startling everyone in the room. Luka flinched, not expecting Teto to make such a horrendous noise. Rin had a double take, almost tripping if it weren’t for Gumi’s tight grip on her arm. Gumi looked terrified, but then quickly tried to recompose herself.

“T-Teto! What was that for?” Rin yelled, a blush rising to her cheeks as she gripped Gumi’s arm for dear life.

“You two are under… a mistletoe!” Teto yelled, dramatically pointing above them to clarify. Rin and Gumi looked at each other, both blushing as they followed Teto’s gaze to the plant in question. “You have ta’ kiss!”

“You don’t _have_ to kiss,” Rana clarified. “But you can if you want to!”

“They’re keeping a tally,” Gakupo added, jutting his thumb out to indicate Yuki excitedly picking up her etch-a-sketch. Gumi looked over at Rin, uncertainty in her eyes, but never removing Rin’s hands from her arm.

“We are a couple now, so… I don’t see anything wrong with it.” Every word that came out of Gumi’s mouth was hesitant. Rin herself, still blushing, smiled and nodded.

“Yeah, i-it’s cool with me if it’s cool with you. Super cool! Fantastic! Well I mean not that exciting, but like, you know, ha,” Rin stumbled over herself, but smiled at her nonetheless. “I mean, they’re keeping _a tally_ ,” she sarcastically added, hoping to lighten the hopelessly awkward aura between them.

“Yes, they are.” Gumi leaned down slightly, closing her eyes as they got closer and closer. Luka probably shouldn’t have stared – she hadn’t stared for any of the other couples – but for some reason, she couldn’t bring herself to look away from these two. Rin glanced at Gumi’s lips, gulped, and seemed to last minute change her decision, pecking Gumi on the cheek. it was short, sweet, and absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. They were a couple; it was normal for them to kiss. Luka had no reason to feel… bitter about it. About them. Everything she had been trying to block out about this holiday party came rushing back at her because of the happiness of this couple in front of her. The blushing cheeks, the small smiles, the bright eyes… Luka felt as if her heart was shattering.

Time moved on without Luka; Teto dog whistled, Yuki rapidly began to twirl the knobs to draw what to her was just another tally. Gumi and Rin settled in the middle of the living room to watch the tv. Luka kept mindlessly playing dreidel, thankful that no one else seemed to notice that her mind was elsewhere.

“Hey, I’m back,” Len called, two red plastic cups of blue juice, presumably all for him. Luka looked up, trying not to show how excited she was to be able to stop playing and just forget about this party. She wasn’t the only one, though; as soon as Rin laid eyes on him, her face lit up. She looked especially happy to see a second cup, since she herself had just finished hers and put up a big stink about not wanting to get up and refill it.

“Yo, little bro!” She waved, an evil grin on her face as she tried to lure him into her trap.

“Oh, hey Rin! Hey Gumi!” He cried, smiling as he went to approach them, presumably to catch up and make light conversation. Like a wild animal driven mad by hunger, she eyed the cup as he approached, closer and closer, until… she pounced!

“R-Rin!?” Len cried, lifting the cups high in the air as she lurched forward and tried to snap one out of his grasp.

“I need more blue juice!” She cried, launching herself into battle as she got up on both feet and started chasing him around the room. Luka watched bemusedly as they wiggled past people, Len trying desperately to not spill his drinks as he ran for dear life. Luka’s amusement turned to concern as Rin restrained him in the uppermost left corner, which housed all the wires, boxes, and routers the living room had. It all happened in a flash; Rin tackled Len so hard both drinks toppled over. The red cups were in the air for no more than a single second before they fell top down onto the cable box, spilling all their contents right over. The box gave a drying cry, its fans going haywire inside the mainframe, before going out in a puff of smoke. They stared at it for a moment, shell shocked, as the drink bled from one cord to another, causing a whole chain of wifi routers, extenders, cords, and anything electronic in a four foot vicinity of the tragic spill to die.

“LEN BROKE THEM,” Rin yelled, pointing accusingly at her brother.

“N-No I did not! It was all Rin!”

“Now we don’t have ANY TVs! Len, you are a curse to this household,” she cried, pretending to be heartbroken. “Gumi! Back me up here, it was totally him!” Gumi was trying very hard not to associate herself with them, slowly turning her head the opposite direction. “H-Hey! Gumi!”

Luckily for Luka, the drama simmered down as quickly as it started, and Len rejoined the Dreidel group. After thanking her for helping him take the lead in the game, Luka was finally able to go back to minding her own business loitering – or, she thought she was going to. To her surprise, Lily had put her pieces away and was getting up to join her. Luka looked over at her in slight confusion, but upon looking at Lily’s blatantly concerned gaze, she knew why.

Lily, thank the Gods, didn’t try to make her talk about it. She smiled, struck up some small talk about how the party was going and whatnot. Luka humored her and kept the conversation going, but for the life of her couldn’t focus on it. She nodded and gave the answers Lily wanted to hear, but in truth, she was looking forward to leaving this party and not having to think about it for another year. It was an obligation to her - a formality for Crypton’s sake. She had nothing but negative memories that dragged her down attached to this place. Lily was rambling on and on about some work story Luka had already known about when she suddenly overheard something that made her heart stop.

“…Miku walk down? She hasn’t attended a holiday party in years.” Luka’s attention was ripped from Lily to the murmurs of some gossip group by the couch.

“I know, right? I still can’t believe how much she’s changed. I’ll tell you, she used to be so nice!” Luka squinted, trying to pick up who was talking, but it was so hard to focus with all the other voices in the room.

The voice that chimed in next was undeniably Teto’s. “Miku’s not all that bad. She lets me fly around her room sometimes.”

“Yeah, but she’s just different. You’d think she’d be most involved being the face of Vocaloid, but she’s just… not.”

“I’ve heard she hasn’t even introduced herself to the Meika twins yet.”

“God, yeah. You know, her and Luka used to date before she got mean? You’d’ve never guessed it, but-“

“Excuse me,” Luka said to Lily, not caring if she had interrupted her. Luka had to leave. Now. She was two steps from the wall when Lily reached out and grabbed her arm.

“Luka, what’s wrong? You’ve been acting weird.” Lily’s brows were knit with concern. She was a good friend, Luka thought, but brushed her off.

“I’m going to get some food,” She lied. She just needed to get out of there. Luka kept walking, but was stopped once again.

“Hey, Luka, Luka!” Teto called. “Did you really date Miku way back when? What was she like? Why did she change so much?” Luka flinched, not making eye contact. Her eyes were beginning to sting, but she paused, unable to move.

“I…I’m leaving. To get some food.”

Storming out was the wrong thing to do. Letting her emotions take charge was the wrong thing to do. She let her guard slip, just this once, because the memories were stronger than she was.

Of course, as soon as she turned the corner, she quite literally came face to face with the last being on the planet she wanted to see.

She saw the flash of teal hair before they collided and knew what had happened the second she was hit. It actually was the only thing she could think about, all that resonated in her head while she reeled in pain. Miku is right there. She hit her head on Miku’s. Miku, Miku, Miku. Miku let out a low whine, completely thrown off balance. Luka recovered a lot quicker than she did, able to spend the split seconds after the hit to just… look at her. It had been too long since Luka had just looked at her.

She looked good. Miku was never going to be anything less than stunning in Luka’s eyes, as much as she hated to admit it; even with ruffled, unbrushed hair, and sweatpants that didn’t fit her, in immense pain, she looked cute enough to be on the cover of a magazine. However, the second Miku picked herself up, and their eyes met, those thoughts stopped. Time stopped with them. The bite – the raging flames of anger – that had been resting within her eyes was drowned in a sea of shock. Luka had always thought Miku’s eyes looked like the ocean – it was something Luka had told herself was incredibly cheesy, but it was a truth she found her mind returning to. Luka fell and drowned in those depths, and with that an undeniable fact of her existence resurfacing; she would never tire of just looking at Miku. She tried not to move her eyes as she looked at her, examining her like a piece of art. Luka knew that she was completely exposed with Miku; she saw the deep thought in those eyes as she pieced Luka together piece by piece like a puzzle she’d solved a million times before. It was scary that Miku could read her the way she could – it was scarier that she didn’t mind. There was solace in it –to be truly understood in a matter of seconds. Secretless.

Then she remembered they were under the mistletoe together, and all hell broke loose in Luka’s shattered, confused heart.

Miku was a true actor. She never admitted it to anyone, even herself, but it was always a performance when interacting with her. She could read, but her true skill was the ability to write; to paint confusion across her gaze and look up, to twist her mouth into a fear filled grimace. She slowly lowered her head, meeting Luka’s eyes once again.

Luka wasn’t going to make a move. She knew that much. But, nonetheless… would she protest if Miku leaned up and pressed their lips together? Would she lean in? Would she reach for her waist and draw her close, or push her away with disgust in her heart?

She could see Miku was working through the same feelings as her. Wasn’t it terrible that they were in such a state? That moving on had never been an option for them? Whatever Miku chose, whichever path they walked down, Luka would be okay with it. She missed Miku. She missed her so much she couldn’t wait to get away from her.

Why was Luka so pathetic?

Miku opened her mouth, then closed it. She was considering something. Luka stared.

“No.” Miku sounded… different. She wasn’t making a statement, there was no demand; she was asking a question. Luka couldn’t answer it. Neither of them would ever be able to just answer it. Two years of the week after a breakup; what are we? Where do we go from here? How do I keep going with you out of the picture? Luka did the only thing within her power; keep running from them.

Luka’s shoulder brushed Miku on the way out. It wasn’t intentional as far as Luka knew, but it’s all her mind was focused on as she walked down the hallway, through the rooms, across so many groups of bantering Vocaloids, simply happy and enjoying their holiday party.

Luka wanted to leave. She hated holiday parties and she wanted to leave.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey reader, thanks for checking this out! I've been really excited to share it with all of you; this one has been sitting in my drafts since January of this year (I had JUST missed the Holiday season last time around!!! ToT). I hope you liked it so far! Next chapter will be from Luka's POV and give us a little more info about their past, so look forward to that ;D
> 
> This fic will be releasing a new chapter once every two days starting today (December 21st) until Christmas (December 25th). The next chapter will be uploaded on the 23rd. Until next time, have a great day!
> 
> P.S. - I celebrate Christmas, so if I said anything that misrepresented or disrespected any of the other seasonal holidays, please comment below and I'll fix it asap!


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